Why should we study race? Race does
not “exist” in any physical or biological sense. The genes that dictate
our skin color, our hair color, the shape of our eyes or our nose—these
genes do not come in some neat little bundle that tells us who belongs
to which group. Indeed, over history and still today there has not been
a consensus on how to classify people into races or even how many races
exist. However, race is extremely real in its effects on our lives as
individuals and as members of society. By studying race, along with
ethnicity (an idea which is often confused or conflated with race), we
can unravel where race comes from, why it still matters, how it impacts
us, and how it intersects with other sorts of inequality in society.

This course has two primary
substantive aims: first, to develop an
understanding of how the idea of race has emerged and developed in the
United States, and second, to understand how race intersects with other
systems of inequality (including class, gender, sexuality, and
disability). It has the additional aim of giving students the tools to
critically interrogate race in term of both their academic and
non-academic lives (for instance, the appearance of race in the media).
Students will also get practice in a number of important forms of
academic and professional writing as pertains to race, as well as in
leading class discussions.

REQUIRED
MATERIALS:

Back,
Les and
John Solomos, eds. 2000. Theories of Race and Racism: A
Reader. London and New York: Routledge. Available at Shakespeare
and Company Booksellers, 716 Broadway.

Photocopied
reading packet. Available at New University Copy, 11 Waverly Place.